The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is Australia's national transport safety investigator. The ATSB's function is to improve safety and public confidence in the aviation, marine and rail modes of transport. The ATSB is Australia's prime agency for the independent investigation of civil aviation, rail and maritime accidents, incidents and safety deficiencies.

What happened

At about 0400 (CDT) on Wednesday 11 April an ARTC ballast train
8M24N travelling on the interstate mainline between Broken Hill to
Kinalung derailed at the 1118.500 km mark. The derailment was
initiated by the 26th wagon as a result of a loading irregularity.
The crew of the train was physically unhurt. There was minor damage
to the wagon and considerable track damage over a 4 km length.

Safety message

Uneven loading of ballast wagons increases the potential of
derailment. In 2010, the Independent Transport Safety Regulator
(ITSR) released a Rail Industry Safety Notification (RISN) No. 32
on the "operation of less than safely loaded wagons". Although the
notice refers to coal trains, some of the issues raised in the RISN
are also applicable to ballast trains such as ensuring the
appropriate wagon loading configurations are in place.

To ensure wagons are evenly loaded, the rail operator's procedures
for checking the load distribution need to be followed and carried
out to the required standard.